WATCH: Daniil Medvedev sorry for ‘funny’ outburst and ‘small cat’ comment as he admits he ‘just lost it’

Australian Open
Daniil Medvedev loses his cool

He found the incident a bit amusing, but Daniil Medvedev admits he she not have lost control of his emotions during his Australian Open semi-final victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The world No 2 booked his place in the final against Rafael Nadal with a 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over the Greek, but it was a heated affair.

Unimpressed with the way his opponent’s father and coach Apostolos Tsitsipas was acting in the stands, Medvedev accused his rival of receiving coaching.

And he had a meltdown in the second set, shouting at chair umpire Jaume Campistol: “His father can talk every point. Are you stupid? I’m talking to you, look at me. How can you be so bad in the semi-final of a Grand Slam?”

Medvedev also later called Campistol a “small cat”.

Although he could see the funny side of the incident, the reigning US Open champion feels he lost control.

“I think we can say it was funny, but I was definitely out of my mind,” he said.

“I was not controlling myself any more about anything, and that’s actually why I’m really happy to win, because many matches like this I would go on just to do mistakes, because you lose your concentration a lot when you get in these heat-of-the-moment things.

“The next game, 15-40, I started terrible. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m just completely losing the fibre of this match’. I’m so happy that I managed to catch it really fast.”

It is not the first time Medvedev has suffered a meltdown and it won’t be the last, but he believes he is improving.

“I regret it all the time because I don’t think it’s nice,” he said. “I know that every referee is trying to do their best.

“But tennis, we don’t fight with the fists, but tennis is a fight. It’s a one-on-one against another player. So I’m actually really respectful to players who almost never show their emotions because it’s tough. I can get really emotional. I have been working on it.

“So many, many matches, I handle it. I think if we look back at myself five years ago when I started playing, there was less attention on me, but I was just insanely crazy. So I do regret it 100 per cent but, in the heat of the moment, I just lost it.”

Daniil Medvedev

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